Over the last 2 years we observed some confusion about available plastic recycling processes.

It seems that the Solvent-based Purification (Dissolution) technology has been overlooked or completely forgotten over the last decades and there exists uncertainty about the underlaying sciences and the advantages & disadvantages of different processes. Therefore we decided to offer a 2 minutes per day Training Course about the Basics of Plastic Recycling over a period of 15 days as Linkedin posts and started the project on 11th March 2020 for all those, which might be interested in this subject.

Chemical Recycling is an “Oxymoron” because it is a scientific fact that chemical reactions change the composition of polymers and fulfil the definition for “recovery” of the Waste Directive. The same is the case for Feedstock Recycling.Mechanical recycling and solvent-based purification (dissolution) belong both to the category Physical Recycling and both enable the “re-use” of the polymer without down-cycling to raw-materials or feedstock (e.g. fuel, syngas, hydrocarbons) or building blocks of polymers, which have to be polymerized again to bring them back into the cycle. Physical Recycling fulfils the criteria for “recycling” of the Waste Directive.Only a combination of “Feedstock Recovery” with a new Polymerization could be considered as “recycling”.

Is it really coincidence and ignorance or in fact intention, that the dissolution (solvent-based purification) for plastic waste recycling is incorrectly described and classified as chemical recycling when it is Physical Recycling? The positive thing is, that the report “Actieplan Doorbraakproject Chemische Recycling” from VNO-NCW (Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers) is at least one of the rare cases that includes the “Dissolution” (oplossen) as a recycling technology for plastic waste. This is a progress!

Plastic waste not sinking in the Sea makes a major "Tragedy of the Commons" visible and hopefully triggers a change to our present way of dealing with such growing waste streams. But what we see is only the “tip of the iceberg” and how plastic descends to the deep ocean is, for the most part still a mystery. We can’t find the vast majority of the ocean plastic but in the mean-time we learned that besides micro-plastic there exists nano-plastic and both will probably not be microbially degraded in any period of time relevant to human society. If we continue depleting, spoiling and poisoning common good (oceans, atmosphere, etc) we may pass the point of no return.

Why is the CreaSolv® Process consistently incorrectly described instead of accepting that it is a Physical Recycling process that does not destroy polymer chains? It is a Solvent-based Purification that meets the criteria of mechanical recycling (ISO 15270/2008 Plastics) but not the ones of chemical recycling.

The study of the Netherlands Institute for Sustainable Packaging (KIDV) is very comprehensive and useful. It compares the CreaSolv® Process with 3 chemical recycling processes (depolymerization, pyrolysis and gasification) in relation to CO2 footprint & process cost and proves that Physical Recycling is an attractive alternative to chemical recycling when closing the loop for a Circular Economy. It also shows that we need better definitions for all plastic recycling processes and a plastic waste recycling hierarchy, if we have to decide how to recycle or to design plastic articles, which are recyclable and not single-use.

In their update “Waste & Packaging” (published November 12, 2019) Unilever informs also about their achievements in regard to the CreaSolv® Process for sachet recycling. Through large scale industrial trials they have proven that the CreaSolv® Recycling technology is a technically viable solution to recycling sachets. The pilot plant in Indonesia, opened in 2018 and is actually the only facility in the world where this technology is being used to recycle sachets. It can process three tonnes of material a day.

In October 2019, the Greenpeace “False Solutions Report: Throwing away the future” incorrectly classifies solvent-based purification (dissolution) as chemical recycling for plastic waste. They follow/copy uncritically the expertise of Zero Waste Europe’s study “Eldorado of Chemical Recycling” and both miss an opportunity, offered by a technology that leaves the polymer intact... for what they normally have a preference for.

Solvent-based purification and mechanical recycling are technologies based on physical processes and both leave the polymers intact so that they can be re-used and stay in the "cycle".

Obviously there exists some confusion about what is the underlying science or principle for certain plastic recycling technologies. Having been confronted more often with incorrect classifications of the CreaSolv® Process as Chemical Recycling we see the need for correction and clarification. The CreaSolv® Process is a solvent-based purification (dissolution) that is based on physical and not on chemical processes (or changes). During the CreaSolv® Process the polymer only changes its physical state from solid to liquid and back to solid. Therefore, the correct description is Physical Recycling.

On September 13, 2019 the PolyStyreneLoop project was presented at the Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2019 in Graz, Austria. The CreaSolv® Technology recycles polystyrene insulation foam from construction and impurities like cement or other residues, as well as the imbedded flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) are safely removed. The HBCD is destroyed, while the valuable bromine component and polystyrene are recovered. Today HBCD is considered a pollutant and millions of tons of PS foam waste can no longer be regularly recycled. The CreaSolv® Process is based on a Solvent-based Purification and works like a washing machine on a molecular level. It has already been described in the Technical Guidelines of the Basel Convention as a preferred way to treat PS foam waste with HBCD.

The actual classification into mechanical recycling, chemical recycling and energy recovery is outdated and incomplete. It disregards solvent-based purification (dissolution) as individual technology and the opportunities offered by this physical recycling techniques to recycle plastic waste streams that are actually considered as unrecyclable. A Physical Recycling process like the CreaSolv® Process leaves the polymer chains intact for re-use in the original application in contrary to chemical recycling (feedstock recycling) that always breaks down the polymer into smaller molecules.

A recent study reveals that the flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) was present in 90% of 20 Irish and 50 UK polystyrene packaging samples examined. HBCDD is considered as a POP (persistent organic pollutant) and its production and placing on the market is banned since March 2016.

Flame retardants are used in expanded polystyrene (EPS) building insulation materials but not for packaging!

In 2017 a pilot project confirmed a similar situation in Canada’s largest city Toronto, thus hindering the recycling of this plastic waste stream.